Review Summary: Manticore.
One of the most frequent and often justified criticisms aimed at progressive rock/metal bands is that they often focus on showcasing their virtuosity as players at the expense of the quality of their songwriting. You could say that Wolverine, a Prog Metal band from Sweden, is showing off as well, but in a different way. “The Window Purpose” is a long album, and most of its songs possess a hefty runtime, but they are not full of aimless noodling and endless soloing. Instead of saying “look how fast/complex we can play!” the band is saying “look what songs we can write, what we can combine, how naturally we can move from one style to another and merge them into coherent and impactful compositions!” The band is determined to showcase
everything they can do straight away on their debut album, and they can do a lot.
The main focus throughout the record is the atmosphere, and it’s not exactly cheerful, although it’s not like the band sticks to one single mood any more than they stick to one single style, so the album has its share of more uplifting moments. Anyway, the album opens up with the words of a priest addressing attendants of a funeral ceremony and talking about the deceased whose life is apparently explored further on in the album’s lyrics. I will not, however, delve deeper into the lyrical concept in this review, because otherwise I will never finish it. Even if you just focus on the music, there’s more than enough to talk about due to the album’s richness and variety. I could’ve written a full review about almost every individual song from “The Window Purpose,” so if I go into very detailed descriptions of the musical content, I’ll end up with an overblown treatise which nobody would want to read. At the same time, if I just provide a very general overview, I’d fail to reflect the album’s uniqueness in my writing.
One possible way to resolve this dilemma is to choose one song as an example and provide a detailed breakdown of it, so that a reader who hasn’t heard the album yet could make an impression about its sound. Let’s use “His Cold Touch,” the third song on the album, as our lab specimen. It opens up with a chill, slightly psychedelic melody that wouldn’t have felt out of place on a Steven Wilson record, which then morphs slightly towards poppier territory, only to acquire a darker undertone as soon as the verse starts. After the verse, heavy guitars and moody electronics step in, soon to be joined by dramatic strings. This section of the song possesses clear Pain of Salvation vibes. Next in line, there’s an ambient section with only drums and various sound effects going on for a while. Then, things get heavy again with the guitars supported by old-school organ-like keyboards and the first proper guitar solo entwined with the riffs. This is when the growls kick in first, making the song sound heavier still and reinforcing the punch that the rhythm section and the guitars already provide. Then, it’s time for another softer section of the song with clean singing and, at times, only a piano melody leading the song. From that moment on, the song alternates between the softer sung sections and the heavier growled ones until it reaches a conclusion. What’s important is that all this kaleidoscope of sounds represents a cohesive package where no part feels redundant or superficial. All of these elements are there to serve the song, improve and enrich it.
In a nutshell, this is what you get from this album. It is a set of sprawling, multi-layered songs with punchy riffs, chameleonic keyboards, ever-changing mood, and several types of vocals employed. Pain of Salvation is the most obvious influence here that can be felt in the gritty atonal riffs, urgent guitar and piano melodies, and those moments of half-shouted or rapidly delivered vocals. “Towards Loss” is the most obvious example with PoS DNA all over the song’s melodies and structures. Still, the band does not dwell on just one influence, branching out into Classic Rock, Psychedelic, and even Jazz-inspired territories. Yep, there’s a super tasty Jazz guitar section towards the end of “The Storm Inside,” and elsewhere the guitars and the keyboards often have a jazzy feel about them, especially in the quieter moments.
By the way, about growls. Well, about the vocals in general, but also about growls specifically. If there’s one thing I’m not sure about, it’s Stefan Zell’s cleans. His singing is sufficiently clear and powerful, and his voice is pliable enough to accommodate all the changes and transformations happening throughout the songs. Yet, for me, something is grating about his tone and delivery, and I think music like this requires a singer with more grit. Luckily, he’s not the only one doing the singing. First of all, Jamina Jansson provides her vocals for the ballad “Leaving Yesterday” with her and Stefan’s voices perfectly blending together. And then, of course, there are growls provided by the drummer, Marcus Losbjer. They are quite juicy and powerful, and are utilized frequently throughout the album, sometimes to accentuate the heavy riffs and rhythms, but sometimes also as a counterpoint to more melodic guitar parts like in “Coma.” The growls play an extremely important role, making the band sound more modern and allowing the album to rise above the usual Prog Metal template.
One more important thing for an album of challenging and complex music that lasts for over an hour is that it is extremely well-sequenced. Just as all the elements feel appropriate within the context of each individual song, nothing falls out of place in the track list. Even the two brief interludes are essential, serving as an opportunity to take a breath for the listener before delving into another set of lengthy and audacious songs. The one clear example of that is the closer “Again.” Now, you might think that you don’t want to sit through another ten-minute song, and it would have been better if the album ended with the romantic and uplifting “Post Life” or even the second interlude “Release.” But just wait until you hear the song! After a short acoustic intro, the heavy *** kicks in with Losbjer delivering the most
vicous growls on the album, which even have a blackened feel about them. This is the most promising song on the album, although its promise is not quite fulfilled. I think this is the only instance where the band’s desire to be eclectic does not serve in its favor, as the clean vocal parts actually feel redundant and break the song’s flow. It would have been so much better if they had abandoned the cleans altogether, let Losbjer carry the song on his own, and venture fully into Death Metal territory. Not even those extensive soft guitar passages would have stood in the way of creating a perfect Death Metal song. Wolverine had a chance to grant us an excellent Be’lakor song years before Be’lakor even existed, but alas...
Nevertheless, “Again” remains a great song and a powerful and unconventional way to end the album. We all know that the 2000s were not the best time for Progressive Metal, but Wolverine stood tall in the sea of nearly-identical Prog/Power bands and Dream Theater clones. Even when making its first steps, the band was already brave enough to expand the limits and defy conventions and smart enough to know what works for the benefit of the actual songs. I did not mention everything that is great about “The Window Purpose” in my review and deliberately scrapped whole paragraphs to avoid overloading it, but no amount of words is enough to describe the pleasure and excitement that you might receive after just one listen.
